| dc.description.abstract | In recent decades, servicification has been a trend. Industries that previously traded in products now trade in services. One of the early examples of this change is found in software and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), but the trend is that everything can be delivered as a service (XaaS). This transition from product to service has led to a change from individual transactions to customer relationships. Services such as subscriptions and the focus on relationship building have led to a new role in the organisation, the Customer Success Manager (CSM), which will ensure joint value creation for customers and the service provider.
The first line (and especially Customer Success) in organisations is sitting on large amounts of knowledge about the company's customers and users. To bring about innovation that solves the customers' problems, it is necessary that information about the customer is spread to the rest of the organisation and forms the basis for further development of the services provided. Even though this is often a stated goal in XaaS organisations, there’s often a poor flow of knowledge between departments, and innovations are not solving actual customer problems.
XaaS requires an organisation that is both customer centric and data driven. The new CSM unit is responsible for proactively managing the customer experience and engagement towards maximum value co-creation in partnership with the customer. We are only beginning to understand the implications of XaaS on the established organisation, and there are not much data or research done on customer success management. But just adopting a new Customer Success unit might not set the new unit up for success. For the adoption to be successful, it requires changes in the established organisation. I am using theoretical frameworks on the XaaS business model, customer success management and change management to research what organisational dimensions promote and inhibit the CSM’s role as change agent.
The aim of this research is to supply insights that can make it easier for organisations to introduce the new CSM unit into the existing organisation and gain maximum value from the CSM role. My findings are that XaaS is changing the way companies earn money; and you need a new business model that reflects this. The new business model has implications for the established structure, culture, and power structures in the organisation. Adopting the new CSM role without also changing the established business model and the organisation is an insult to your new employee. You end up with frustrated CSM’s that are ignored by the rest of the organisation, and that cannot contribute with anything but incremental changes. The potential of the position is an agent of change, both within their own organisation and the customers organisation, that can be an asset in making sure the organisation is both customer centric and data driven. | |
